


Dark Embrace

by Repeatinglitanies



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Don’t copy to another site, F/M, Prostitution, Pseudo-Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:14:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23985139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Repeatinglitanies/pseuds/Repeatinglitanies
Summary: When forced to resort to pawning off her violin for food, Vanya decided on a choice. One that didn’t involve living on the streets or going back to the Umbrella Academy.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy/Vanya Hargreeves
Comments: 33
Kudos: 205





	Dark Embrace

The day Vanya pawned her most prized possession, her violin, just to put food on the metaphorical table (she technically lived in a box) was the day she decided she could no longer be picky on how she would survive her new life away from the Umbrella Academy and Reginald Hargreeves’ sufferance.

If asked, it all started when Dad insisted that she come back to the Academy permanently and leave behind whatever life she had managed to make for herself. A younger Vanya would have jumped at the idea of finally being wanted or at least noticed enough to be ordered back to the closest thing to a home she had. But the years had made Vanya more cynical.

She knew that it was some sort of twisted power play on Reginal Hargreeves’ part. At present, only Luther had remained as an active member of the Academy. Everyone else had left of their own volition with the exception of Ben, who had been killed in action. A part of Vanya would always blame Reginald for that. Dad might not have been the one to pull the metaphorical trigger on her brother’s life. But Ben wouldn’t have been put in a dangerous position in the first place if it wasn’t for Dad.

Ben never even wanted to be a superhero. As a child, Vanya couldn’t understand that. Why wouldn’t Ben want the attention and the adulation? But with Ben dead, his life and potential cut far too short, Vanya finally understood. The day Ben died was the day Vanya gave up trying to earn Dad’s regard or respect.

It hadn’t been enough to make her leave the house though. That came soon after.

But when she did leave, Vanya hadn’t been above taking Dad’s money to get her own apartment and pay for her Music Degree. There was a part of her that felt ashamed of having to still rely on Dad. But at eighteen, she didn’t think she could survive without his support.

So she used Dad’s money until the day she graduated and found a place at St Pluvium’s Orchestra. When the pay wasn’t enough for rent and daily living expenses, Vanya simply found a more affordable apartment and supplemented her income by providing music lessons. 

Vanya supposed that time, experience and distance from Reginald Hargreeves gave her a false sense of security. It made her think that while her childhood would always haunt her, at least the man himself wouldn’t bother with her. It wasn’t as if he had given her the time of day when she was younger, aside from reminding her to take her pills.

But she had been so wrong. When Vanya gave an emphatic refusal which was communicated through Pogo (no way Reginald Hargreeves would waste time to even visit or call her himself), the so-called philanthropist decided to play dirty. 

Vanya lost her place at the orchestra not long after. And parents soon pulled their children out from her lessons. 

The old Vanya would have immediately yielded, packed her bags and gone back to Hargreeves manor with the proverbial tail between her legs.

But she didn’t. In fact, had it not been for her medication, she would have been in a rage at the injustice of it all. Dad had all the power and influence. To him, it could very well be the easiest thing in the world to wreck Vanya’s life. 

Of course, he’d only see his actions as a form of discipline, the same way one had to use negative reinforcement on a dog or some other animal in order to dissuade it from unwanted behavior. Because in spite of being the only father she’d ever known, Reginald Hargreeves had never seen Vanya or her siblings as actual children, much more his children. 

So she fought by staying put, applying for other teaching positions and at other orchestras. When those didn’t pan out, she decided to apply at fast food joints, retail outlets, grocery stores and cleaning services.

None of them ever called her back. 

And then, Dad got her evicted from her apartment.

At least, he had the decency to ensure she had her supply of pills. He didn’t even use it as leverage to get her to come back to the manor.

The old Vanya would have been touched. But present Vanya just saw it as the least the old man could do, given that she had no other choice but to live in a box. For once, Vanya was glad for her petite frame.

Other people would have asked help from friends and family. Unfortunately, Vanya never did have any friends. She couldn’t find it in herself to reach out and make new connections. She just didn’t know how. 

Well, that wasn’t quite true. 

The truth was that Vanya was too scared.

When she left the Academy, it was with the intention of never seeing any of her siblings again. It was much easier with most than others. She had never been close with Numbers One to Four. Number Six, Ben, was dead. 

As for Five…

Five was the metaphorical straw that broke the camel’s back. Growing up, he was the sibling she was closest to. Perhaps it was because they were both outsiders, her because of her lack of powers, him due to his lack of courtesy and social graces. 

She didn’t really mind Five’s direct, sometimes tactless approach. In fact, she preferred his honesty. That way, she knew he was spending time with her because he wanted to, not because Mom or Pogo asked him to do it. Because unfortunately, that’s usually the only reason the others would even give her the time of day.

But as they grew older, things started to change. And Five started to keep his distance.

So when Vanya found herself without shelter or a way to lawfully support herself, she didn’t call on Five for help. 

Vanya knew he had the means. He was the most successful out of all her siblings. 

Unlike her, Five never took money from Reginald Hargreeves. In Five’s mind, why beg for money when he could win it at casinos? And Five won big, which lead to all the Vegas casinos imposing a permanent ban on one Number Five Hargreeves (that was still the name listed on his birth certificate). But by that time, he no longer needed the casinos. Five used his winnings to invest on stocks, which (to no one’s surprise) earned him even more money.

Money which he used to fund his research on time travel and the multiverse.

No. Vanya never contacted Five. She didn’t want to. And since she didn’t even know his number, she couldn’t even if she did want to.

So Vanya was basically fighting and losing a war of attrition. Even as she rummaged through garbage for food or slept under a bridge on stormy nights, Vanya deluded herself with the possibility that Reginald Hargreeves would soon tire or get distracted and finally leave her alone.

But that never happened. And as she held back tears as she took one last look at her beloved violin, she knew that she had to choose the lesser of two evils if she wanted to survive. 

There was no longer a choice in which she would end up not regretting her actions. Perhaps, given the trajectory of her birth and subsequent life, there never had been.

Throughout her months of homelessness, there had been a madam that wanted to recruit her. At first, Vanya politely declined, throwing away the woman’s card as soon as she was out of sight.

But every now and then, the madam would come back and check up on her. And because it meant being treated to a hot meal, Vanya had to sit and listen to the madam’s pitch. It was basically the same thing, extolling the benefits and downplaying the more unsavoury side of the profession.

Of course, Vanya knew that she’d get more than she bargained for if she took the job offer.

But it was either that or being a pawn to Reginald Hargreeves’ games.

And so, Vanya found herself naked beneath silken sheets, on a thick comfortable mattress in one of the most luxurious apartments she had ever seen (not that she had seen many). It didn’t take the madam long to find her a client. In fact, the madam served her the job on a silver platter as soon as Vanya accepted her offer. Or was Vanya the one actually being served on a platter?

According to the madam, Vanya was lucky.

The client was very generous, willing to provide Vanya an apartment as well as an allowance for her daily living expenses. All Vanya had to do was sleep with him in total darkness, both literally and figuratively.

The client didn’t want anyone to know his identity. Not even Vanya. That meant that Vanya had to turn off the lights by 8pm. She would be free to doze off or go to sleep. The client kept irregular hours and he wouldn’t always visit. But he expected her to be welcoming should he happen to wake her up to do her job.

With little choice, Vanya accepted these conditions. It was definitely weird. But then again, she’d never had to sell her body before. So what did she know? 

But there was no way she could sleep soundly while a total stranger entered her room to have sex with her. If she somehow fell asleep, would he even try to wake her up? Or would he go at her without a care for gaining her consent, assuming that her very presence in the apartment he had paid for was all the assent he needed?

For some reason, her thoughts made its way to Five. She remembered waiting up for him on the nights he was out on a mission. Vanya would even wait for him in his room, first aid kit in hand just in case he was hurt.

Sometimes, the mission would end so late at night (or so early in the morning) that Vanya would make use of Five’s bed only to wake up to Five sleeping right beside her, holding her hand. It was moments like those that made her stay at Hargreeves manor far longer than she had to.

Looking back, Vanya felt foolish. There had been a part of her that hoped for Five to stay with her forever, or leave with her, or take her with him.

But the months leading up to her departure had shattered that illusion. Where once she’d wake up to a night of waiting up for Five with him sleeping right beside her on his bed and in his room, she would instead find herself in her own room. Five must have carried her back. Not quite getting the message, she again waited up for Five in his room. Only to find herself back in her own room the next morning. 

It went on like that until the day Five finally confronted her. And told her not to visit his room again. 

He didn’t say it unkindly. But to Vanya who only ever had Five, it was a rejection all the same. Perhaps she could have brushed it off as Five wanting his privacy. But with him avoiding her like the plague, no longer even ranting or complaining to her, it felt like he was tired of her.

Maybe her client will tire of her after a night. She hoped so. She hoped not. Vanya hated the mix of emotions. 

Did she want to sleep with a stranger? Of course not. But he was the only one willing to offer her a lifeline. And from what she had heard from the madam, others would have jumped at an offer like this. The client was only interested in sex. But was willing to pay her enough to live in relative comfort.

Vanya just hoped that the client didn’t turn out to be an abusive asshole. On the other hand, if he was, she didn’t think she’d have the courage to leave especially when the choice was to either go back to the streets or go back to the Umbrella Academy.

There was the sound of the front door opening and Vanya’s heart started beating as if she was running a marathon. Her room was pitch black but the hallway outside was lighted. That wasn’t enough to get a good look at her client as he opened her bedroom door.

He had promptly closed the door behind him. And that brief look only gave her a silhouette of a suit and a tall frame. But then again, everyone was tall in Vanya’s eyes.

For a long time, all she heard was the beating of her heart and the mingled sounds of their breaths. Vanya briefly wondered if she had to call out so that he could find his way to her. It was ridiculous that the room had to be pitch dark. What if he accidentally bumped into something and hurt himself?

Suddenly she heard the rustle of clothes. And then she felt a dip on the bed and a lifting of the covers. He didn’t have any trouble finding his way in the dark. Soon after, she felt cold fingers on her skin. His touch was light on her stomach and for some reason, she felt a tingle as his hand made its descent to her crotch.

He was positively icy when his fingers made contact with the space between her legs. She didn’t mean to. But she must have given her discomfort away. Because he immediately withdrew.

For a long time (at least to Vanya), she thought he would change his mind, put his clothes back on and leave. Instead, he rubbed his hands together.

What did Five tell her? Friction causes heat. 

And so it was. This time, the client’s hands focused on spreading her legs wide apart. In no time at all, he was between them. She wondered if he would do it now and get this over with. And a part of her hoped not. Because she wasn’t ready. 

As if reading her mind, he made no motion to cover her body with his. Instead, she felt him back away. Again, she thought he might be leaving. But that conjecture vanished as soon as she felt his warm mouth between her legs. 

The place he sucked on elicited an embarrassing sound. But Vanya, at that point and without conscious thought, had put all her reservations aside. She had spent so many months worrying, shivering and starving. Now that she had a relatively safe space to sleep and enough food to eat, there was no better time to lose herself.

At some point, her hands graduated from holding onto the bed sheets to grabbing fistfuls of his hair, urging him on, demanding for more. And then he used his now-warmed fingers to spread her lips down there and tongued his way deep inside her. Her mind totally went blank.

She couldn't tell at what point he had substituted his tongue with his fingers. She only realized when she heard the squelching sound of something wet coming in repeated contact with something solid, trying to keep it in as it tried to pull out.

When he took his fingers away, she wanted to protest, to tell him that she needed more. However, she seemed to be at a loss for words.

And then, she felt him lick his way up, briefly stopping at her navel and then journeying on to make his way between her breasts to the juncture between her neck and shoulders.

And as he started to suck, she felt his cock making its way between her legs.

It stung a little when he entered her. But it was all right. More than that in fact as they both found a rhythm that suited them. Vanya wouldn't say it was tender lovemaking. But her client seemed attuned to what made her scream and moan the loudest, experimenting with angles and thrusts until he found and repeatedly hit the spot that made her see stars.

She could only hope he enjoyed it as much as she did.

Vanya felt so tired afterwards that she couldn’t keep her eyes open. She had gone to sleep by the time her client reluctantly got up from bed and covered her with the duvet. 

So she didn’t see him painstakingly gather his discarded clothing in the dark, trying his best to make sure he left nothing behind. But not willing to risk turning on the lights. Just as she didn’t see the umbrella tattoo on his arm as he quietly made his way out.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, Five is her client.
> 
> Why did Reginald want her back? I’d say he wanted her as bait for Five.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
